North Carolina Confederate Soldier's and Widow's Pension Applications

 North Carolina Confederate Soldier's and Widow's Pension Applications

The first general pension law in North Carolina for Confederate veterans and widows (Chapter 214) was passed in 1885. This law provided for the payment of $30.00 annually to Confederate veteran residents of the state who had lost a leg, eye, or arm, or who were incapacitated for manual labor while in the service of the Confederate States during the Civil War. Widows of soldiers who were killed in service were entitled to the same benefits as long as they did not remarry. Any person, however, who owned property with a tax value of $500.00 or received a salary of $300.00 per year from the nation, state, or county was not eligible.

These pension laws, however, underwent numerous changes over the next few decades. Chapter 116 of the laws of 1887 amended the 1885 law to include widows of soldiers who had died of disease while in service. The next general pension law was passed in 1889 and remained in effect until it was amended in 1901. As per this amendment, applications had to be certified, witnessed, and filed with the county commissioners who in turn sent them to the State Auditor.

In 1901, the General Assembly of North Carolina passed a new pension law (Chapter 332). Under the new act, "Every person who has been for twelve months immediately preceding his or her application for pension bona fide resident of the State, and who is incapacitated for manual labor and was a soldier or a sailor in the service of the State of North Carolina or of the Confederate States of America, during the war between the States (provided said widow was married to said soldier or sailor before the first day of April, 1865) was entitled to a pension.

The pensioners were divided into four classes:

First class, totally incompetent from wounds to perform manual labor, $72.00 per year

Second class, those who lost a leg above the knee or an arm above the elbow, $60.00 annually

Third class, those who lost a foot or leg below the knee or a hand or an arm below the elbow or had a limb rendered useless from a wound, $48.00 annually

Fourth class, those who lost one eye, widows, and those unfit for manual labor, $30.00 annually

Certain persons were excluded from benefits under general pension acts.

No person holding a national, state, or county office for which he received $300.00 annually, no person with property valued at $500.00 or more, and no person receiving aid under laws for relief of totally blind and maimed was eligible (inmates of the Soldiers' Home, recipients of pensions from other states, and deserters were excluded from benefits under the pension acts, although inmates of the Soldiers' Home were granted quarterly allowances of $1.50 in 1909 -- increased to $3.00 quarterly in 1913).

Practically each succeeding General Assembly made some change in the pension laws. In 1921, these laws apparently were amended and consolidated in some fashion that made more widows eligible.

North Carolina Widow's Pension Act of March 8, 1921. Below is an example of an application pursuant to the 1921 statute.

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